Mangrum WI, Christianson KL, Duncan SM, et al. Duke Review of MRI Principles: Case Review Series. Elsevier Mosby; 2012; 320 pages; $54.95.
In a new and interesting departure from prior publications which attempt to teach MR physics, this addition to the Case Review Series, entitled Duke Review of MRI Principles, discusses principals of MR using the well known method of case-by-case discussion. I am not sure why it was necessary to call this book (a 320-page softcover text) the Duke Review of MRI Principles, since other books in the series don’t use a university name. Add to that the fact that 8 of the 21 authors aren’t from Duke, which makes this decision even more curious.
In any event, examples and cases from neuro, body, and MSK imaging form the basis of the text, and these cases are interspersed in each chapter (T1 Contrast, T2 Contrast, Proton Density, Gadolinium Based Contrast, Preparatory Pulses, Inversion Recovery, Chemical Shift Artifact, Susceptibility Artifact, and Motion/Pulsation Artifacts, Flow Related Contrast, Time of Flight, Contrast Enhanced MRA, Phase Contrast, DWI, Perfusion MR, MRS, FMR). The format is uniform throughout the text: a number of images are shown (2 to 3 images), following which are a series of questions (self-assessment in nature). Brief answers are shown on the following pages along with a more detailed explanation of the physics and the technical principles involved. Companion cases are then shown (from different areas of the body) which help to enforce the previously described MR physics concepts. Each section ends with key points (clinical- and/or physics-related).
The index is robust and allows one to quickly access important explanations. As one example, magnetization transfer is nicely described in the chapter on Preparatory Pulses (but strangely no figure citations accompany this explanation). Also, as another example with BOLD and fMR, one is presented with questions which require some thought before turning the page for answers and explanations concerning the activation of cortical areas and thresholding for track determinations. Since many advanced techniques rely on color displays, the authors have taken black and white displays of the metrics such as PMR or DTI which appear in each chapter and reproduced them as a collection of color images near the end of the book.
As is true with all areas of radiology, one learns best when challenged with case material; the same applies to physics. So with this book, the principals of MR will “stick” because the concepts are tightly bound to questions, encouraging the reader to respond prior to reading the discussion which follows.
This book is recommended for radiologists at all levels, since it is about the most painless way possible to develop and sustain an understanding of the basics of MR physics used in clinical interpretations of images.
